Julia Barfield, , (born 1952) is a British architect and director of

Marks Barfield Marks Barfield Architects is a London-based architectural firm founded by husband and wife David Marks and Julia Barfield. Their work has included the London Eye, the treetop walkway in Kew Gardens, the i360 observation tower in Brighton, Engl ...

Architects, established in 1989. Barfield created the London Eye together with husband and partner

David Marks David Lee Marks (born August 22, 1948) is an American guitarist who is best known for being an early member of the Beach Boys. While growing up in Hawthorne, California, Marks was a neighborhood friend of the original band members and was a freq ...

. Barfield has interest in vernacular architecture, geometry and in the way nature "designs and organizes itself so efficiently". She was influenced by

Buckminster Fuller Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing mo ...

and his beliefs on how architects have a social and environmental responsibility. Barfield remains involved in a diverse array of projects within architecture, including the categories of culture, education, transportation, sports, leisure, and master planning.

Education

Barfield was drawn to architecture through the influence of a family friend who was an architect. She was interested in the arts and sciences, and believes that "architecture is a bridge" between them. She studied at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London from 1972 to 1978. She spent a year abroad working in the '' barriadas'' of Lima, Peru, where she designed housing and a

community centre Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole co ...

Experience

After graduation, Barfield worked for

Foster and Partners Foster + Partners is a British architectural, engineering, and integrated design practice founded in 1967 as Foster Associates by Norman Foster. It is the largest architectural firm in the UK with over 1,500 employees in 13 studios worldwide ...

for nine years. In 1990, together with husband David Marks, she founded Marks Barfield Architects, designing projects for the leisure, housing, transport, education and cultural sectors. Barfield has served as an awards assessor for

RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

and the Civic Trust and judges architectural competitions. She lectures at conferences and universities, advises for the Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment masters course at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

, and serves as a governor at Godolphin & Latymer School for girls. She previously served as vice president of the Architectural Association School of Architecture.

Works

London Eye

''The best thing about the Eye is the journey. It's not like the Eiffel tower, where you get in a dark lift and come out on to a platform at the top. The trip round is as important as the view.'' -Julia Barfield, 2015

In 1993, the '' Sunday Times'' and the Architecture Foundation held an open competition to design a landmark for the millennium. The design submitted by Barfield and Marks, which they called the London Eye, failed to win the competition; in fact, none of the submissions were selected by the judges. The architects decided to erect the landmark anyway, completing it in March 2000 at a cost of £85 million.

Awards

Julia Barfield and her firm have won more than 60 awards for their design, innovation and sustainability. Barfield is the winner of "Architectural Practice of the Year" in 2001 and a " Queen's Award for Enterprise & Innovation" in 2003.

References

External Links * Herd, Colin. “Material Complexity: RIBA Awards.” ''Aesthetica'', no. 82 (May 4, 2018): 72–77. {{DEFAULTSORT:Barfield, Julia 1952 births Living people Architects from London British women architects Members of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of the Architectural Association School of Architecture